Background Streptococcus suis serotype 2 ( S. suis 2, SS2) is a major zoonotic pathogen that causes only sporadic cases of meningitis and sepsis in humans. Most if not all cases of Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) that have been well-documented to date were associated with the non-SS2 group A streptococcus (GAS). However, a recent large-scale outbreak of SS2 in Sichuan Province, China, appeared to be caused by more invasive deep-tissue infection with STSS, characterized by acute high fever, vascular collapse, hypotension, shock, and multiple organ failure. Methods and FindingsWe investigated this outbreak of SS2 infections in both human and pigs, which took place from July to August, 2005, through clinical observation and laboratory experiments. Clinical and pathological characterization of the human patients revealed the hallmarks of typical STSS, which to date had only been associated with GAS infection. Retrospectively, we found that this outbreak was very similar to an earlier outbreak in Jiangsu Province, China, in 1998. We isolated and analyzed 37 bacterial strains from human specimens and eight from pig specimens of the recent outbreak, as well as three human isolates and two pig isolates from the 1998 outbreak we had kept in our laboratory. The bacterial isolates were examined using light microscopy observation, pig infection experiments, multiplex-PCR assay, as well as restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) and multiple sequence alignment analyses. Multiple lines of evidence confirmed that highly virulent strains of SS2 were the causative agents of both outbreaks.ConclusionsWe report, to our knowledge for the first time, two outbreaks of STSS caused by SS2, a non-GAS streptococcus. The 2005 outbreak was associated with 38 deaths out of 204 documented human cases; the 1998 outbreak with 14 deaths out of 25 reported human cases. Most of the fatal cases were characterized by STSS; some of them by meningitis or severe septicemia. The molecular mechanisms underlying these human STSS outbreaks in human beings remain unclear and an objective for further study.

The Argo Program has been implemented and sustained for almost two decades, as a global array of about 4000 profiling floats. Argo provides continuous observations of ocean temperature and salinity versus pressure, from the sea surface to 2000 dbar. The successful installation of the Argo array and its innovative data management system arose opportunistically from the combination of great scientific need and technological innovation. Through the data system, Argo provides fundamental physical observations with broad societally-valuable applications, built on the cost-efficient and robust technologies of autonomous profiling floats. Following recent advances in platform and sensor technologies, even greater opportunity exists now than 20 years ago to (i) improve Argo's global coverage and value beyond the original design, (ii) extend Argo to span the full ocean depth, (iii) add biogeochemical sensors for improved understanding of oceanic cycles of carbon, nutrients, and ecosystems, and (iv) consider experimental sensors that might be included in the future, for example to document the spatial and temporal patterns of ocean mixing. For Core Argo and each of these enhancements, the past, present, and future progression along a path from experimental deployments to regional pilot arrays to global implementation is described. The objective is to create a fully global, top-to-bottom, dynamically complete, and multidisciplinary Argo Program that will integrate seamlessly with satellite and with other in situ elements of the Global Ocean Observing System (Legler et al., 2015). The integrated system will deliver operational reanalysis and forecasting capability, and assessment of the state and variability of the climate system with respect to physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystems parameters. It will enable basic research of unprecedented breadth and magnitude, and a wealth of ocean-education and outreach opportunities.

The results of this study suggest that disc degeneration can be induced by axial dynamic loading in the rabbit intervertebral disc. The compressed rabbit intervertebral discs were large enough for the application of local transmitters through a percutaneous approach. We anticipate that this animal model could be used as a basic model to study intervertebral disc degeneration and to investigate new local therapeutic strategies for maintaining disc health or initiating tissue repair.

The Hebei Province Medical Science Special Major Projects Research Fund.

Processes influencing phytoplankton bloom development in the southern Drake Passage were studied using shipboard iron-enrichment incubations conducted across a surface chlorophyll gradient near the Antarctic Peninsula, in a region of water mass mixing. Iron incubation assays showed that Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) waters were severely iron limited, while shelf waters with high ambient iron concentrations (1-2 nmol L 21 ) were iron replete, demonstrating that mixing of the two water masses is a plausible mechanism for generation of the high phytoplankton biomass observed downstream of the Antarctic Peninsula. In downstream highchlorophyll mixed waters, phytoplankton growth rates were also iron limited, although responses to iron addition were generally more moderate as compared to ACC waters. Synthesizing results from all experiments, significant correlations were found between the initial measurements of Photosystem II (PSII) parameters (F v : F m , s PSII , and p) and the subsequent responses of these waters to iron addition. These correlations indicate that PSII parameters can be used to assess the degree of iron stress experienced in these waters and likely in other regions where photoinhibition and nitrogen stress are not confounding factors.

TNF-alpha seems to have a significant role in patients with chronic low back pain. However, the pathophysiology of this process, the clinical relevance of TNF-alpha and, especially, its part in a potential therapy regimen in these patients need to be more closely examined and defined in additional studies.

Gout is one of the most common types of inflammatory arthritis, caused by the deposition of monosodium urate crystals in and around the joints. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many genetic loci associated with raised serum urate concentrations. However, hyperuricemia alone is not sufficient for the development of gout arthritis. Here we conduct a multistage GWAS in Han Chinese using 4,275 male gout patients and 6,272 normal male controls (1,255 cases and 1,848 controls were genome-wide genotyped), with an additional 1,644 hyperuricemic controls. We discover three new risk loci, 17q23.2 (rs11653176, P=1.36 × 10−13, BCAS3), 9p24.2 (rs12236871, P=1.48 × 10−10, RFX3) and 11p15.5 (rs179785, P=1.28 × 10−8, KCNQ1), which contain inflammatory candidate genes. Our results suggest that these loci are most likely related to the progression from hyperuricemia to inflammatory gout, which will provide new insights into the pathogenesis of gout arthritis.

Metabolomics represents one of the new omics sciences and capitalizes on the unique presence and concentration of small molecules in tissues and body fluids to construct a 'fingerprint' that can be unique to the individual and, within that individual, unique to environmental influences, including health and disease states. As such, metabolomics has the potential to serve an important role in diagnosis and management of human conditions. Colorectal cancer is a major public health concern. Current population-based screening methods are suboptimal and whether metabolomics could represent a new tool of screening is under investigation. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize existing literature on metabolomics and colorectal cancer, in terms of diagnostic accuracies and distinguishing metabolites. Eight studies are included. A total of 12 metabolites (taurine, lactate, choline, inositol, glycine, phosphocholine, proline, phenylalanine, alanine, threonine, valine and leucine) were found to be more prevalent in colorectal cancer and glucose was found to be in higher proportion in control specimens using tissue metabolomics. Serum and urine metabolomics identified several other differential metabolites between controls and colorectal cancer patients. This article highlights the novelty of the field of metabolomics in colorectal oncology.